628 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



these aside, the man peeped into the cave through mere curiosity, and 

 before he had time to withdraw himself, he found to his horror that a large 

 Owl was clinging to his bare chest ! It was most fortunate that the man 

 had the presence of mind to kill the bird immediately by squeezing it ; 

 and on examining the cave again, he found one young, clad in whitish 

 down, which had recently been hatched, and one addled egg. 



There was no nest of any kind, and the young and the egg were resting 

 on the bare ground. The remains of a rat were found lying close to the 

 young bird, and with this exception the cave was very clean. 



The egg is of course pure spotless white, but is much stained with 

 incubation. It is fairly glossy. Its shape is abroad oval nearly spherical. 

 It measures 1'9" X I "6". 



The elevation of the spot was about 6,500 feet. 



On my informing Jones about this, he immediately set to work, and 

 made a most systematic and exhaustive search in the neighbouring forests 

 here, with the result that a few days later, he communicated to me the 

 good news that he had located another nest of this species, containing twa 

 young, a few days old. There were two partially devoured rats lying 

 beside the young birds. 



The nest in this case was in a hollow of an old oak tree, and was placed 

 about 12 feet from the ground. The elevation of the spot was 8,300 feet. 



Young of the Himalayan Wood-Owl ( Syrmum nivicoia )• 



